Switched
by Sheaon13
Summary: I wasn't always apart of pokemon. I used to just think pokemon weren't real. That they were just a tv show. They were real. I guess that all changed when I found myself here. In the body of one Ash Ketchum. Not that I realize it. so this is my story now. Let's find out what happens.


**A/n: A bit of information before we go. The Ash part of this story will, after this chapter is posted, will be placed in a separate story all together. The world he is in isn't exactly like our own at all. That's all I'm giving away but Ash will be the only fanfiction part of the other story. And Ryu, the one replacing Ash, is gay. So any pairing he has will be male. He will have crushes here and there but there won't be an actual pairing until sinnoh I'll place a poll on my profile for it. Just know whoever you end up choosing will end up traveling with Ryu in sinnoh.**

Prologue: Switching it up

_This is how I die huh? Drowning… This isn't how I pictured the the end of my life being… I would've thought I would've been a famous chef by now and that I wouldn't die at fifteen by running away from my older brother after he said some stuff. Who would've thought that I would slip and fall into the running rapids below. To think this stupid argument started over pokemon and because I had been bottling up my anger and jealousy at Trace-nii for a while. I was just so jealous that he had been spending so much time with Jace and now I'll never get to say I'm sorry or see him again. I'll never get to see my best friend, my Vi, again… I'm sorry Vi, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I'm breaking my promise to you… I promised you I wouldn't ever leave you and here I go breaking that promise… I'm sorry…_' a redhead thought as he was slowly drowning. Plunging deeper and deeper into the sea, losing his breath and slowly closing his eyes.

A black haired ten year old awoke with a jolt and was coughing and hacking, gasping for breath. He leaned against the ground once he had gotten control of his breathing. "I'm alive?" He laughed lightly, grateful to be alive.

"Pikapi!" a small yellow thing called as he held onto the ten year old tightly.

"What the hell…?" the black haired ten year old questioned in confusion.

"**I'm afraid that isn't your trainer Pikachu. That isn't Ash, I'm sorry,**" a purple humanoid cat like thing stated telepathically.

"Pika? Pikapi pika!" the yellow pokemon argued, startled. The black haired ten year old looked just as startled by what was going.

"Okay, I'm dreaming, this is not real," the ten year old told himself. "There is no way in hell this is real!"

"**I'm afraid it is very real, Ryuta Ushima,**" the purple humanoid cat stated. "**You happened to be dying at the same time as the original of this body and somehow you switched bodies at the exact moment you both would've died, only Ash officially died, while you survived and you have taken his place.**"

"Ryu, I prefer Ryu," the ten year old sighed. "I didn't expect to be brought into the pokemon world when I woke up this morning, nor did I expect to die. What happens now?"

"**I'm strong enough to replace **_**all **_**of the memories of those who knew Ash and replace them with you, but that would probably also mean you would have new pokemon as well as Ash's own. Given your personality differences and you would've woken up on time but asked for a starter different from the norm. The spearow incident wouldn't have happened, but you would've still ended up with pidgeotto despite catching a pidgey there. You would've also caught a spearow as I can see. All together the pokemon you would have right now would be Pidgeotto, Fearow, Krabby, Muk, Magnemite, Pikachu, Warturtle, Charizard, Bulbasaur, Arcanine, Primeape, Butterfree and his mate, who you decided to call Sakura, Tauros, only one, Haunter, Gyarados, Sandslash, Clefable, Beedrill, Scyther, Gloom, Slowpoke, Poliwrath, Dratini, Shiny Vulpix, Growlithe, Shiny Eevee, Shiny Umbreon, Espeon, Flareon, Jolteon, Arbok, Raichu, Nidoking, Persain, Shiny Raphidash, Marowak, Dewgong, Hypno, Electabuzz, Pinsir, Hitmonlee Togepi, Kabuto and Aerodactyl. Most of the new pokemon were caught in the Safari Zone, including the shiny vulpix. You actually kept the Haunter from the incident with Sabrina. The Magnemite was from the Muk incident. The Shiny Eevee, Shiny Umbreon, Espeon, Flareon and Jolteon were all from the Charmander incident. They were Damien's pokemon and when Damien was arrested, as that's what Ryu would have made sure happened, he received some of Damien's pokemon as did Misty and Brock. All the pokemon Ryu got from Damien are Arbok, who was an ekans at the time, Raichu, Nidoking, Persain, Shiny Raphidash, who was a ponyta at the time, Marowak, Dewgong, Hypno, Electabuzz, Pinsir and Hitmonlee. The pokemon Brock got from that was Golem, Rydon, Chansey, Nidoqueen and Machamp, then a Machoke. The pokemon Misty got were Vaporeon, Tentacruel, Golduck, Seadra, Cloyster and Seaking. The Togepi was hatched from the egg that you, or Ash really, found. You had put your foot down with Misty and was keeping the egg. The Kabuto and Aerodactyl were caught when Team Rocket blew up the tunnel in the mountain, thanks to Charizard actually listening to you anyway. He evolved to save your life. You met Misty when you were trying to teach Pikachu thunderbolt and he accidentally fried her bike, there you caught Gyarados, but back then it was as a magikarp. You caught Sandslash and Clefable in the incident on mount moon, they all wanted to go with you. Dratini is an egg that the Dragonair you saved in the Safari Zone gave to you as thanks. And the Beedrill is the one that Ash would've caught as a weedle had Samurai not distracted him. That's the changes that will be made, you will no longer remember either Ryu. All that will be left will be the name Ryuta Ash Ketchum."**

"Are you really that powerful?" the fifteen year turned ten year old asked in wonder.

"**Yes, I was made to be more powerful than mew but they made me in equal power and Mew is a legendary for a reason, goodbye Ryu**," the purple humanoid cat stated as he did just as he said he would, making sure to catch the pokemon that were needed then teleport them to the lab with altered memories, as well as release twenty-nine of the thirty Tauros into the Safari Zone with altered memories as well. It took only a few minutes and it was done. All the trainers were teleported back to the port where they had taken off.

"The storm is over now, thank goodness," the orange haired water type gym leader stated, gaining the black haired ten year old's attention.

"Yeah, we should head out, luckily it only took a few hours to clear and it's daylight now," the black haired ten year old said. He had a small yellow mouse on his shoulder and tiny egg pokemon in his arms.

"Toge, toge prii!" the egg pokemon said excited.

"Yeah, you'll be able to compete this year," the black haired kid smiled lightly. "You did win our eighth gym badge, and you have been training since a few weeks after you hatched. You already know metronome, flamethrower, dazzling gleam, psyshock, zen headbutt, water pulse, sunny day, solarbeam, peck and mirror move."

"If I had him, he would have a lot more water type moves," the orange haired girl said bitterly. She may or may not be jealous about the black haired ten year old keeping the egg and the little pokemon from it, since she had wanted it.

"Misty, Ryu was the one that found him and so he was the one that got to keep him. Regardless of him being inexperienced with eggs or not, he needed to actually _raise _a pokemon from an egg to get hands on experience and he listened to us when we told him proper egg care," A brown haired teen stated, sternly. This teen had tan skin and his age looked to be around fourteen or fifteen years old.

"Fine, I get it Brock," She huffed as they left the building. She understood but that didn't mean she was any less jealous about it.

"It's my turn to make lunch today," Ryu, the black haired ten year old, stated with a smile.

"You really love to cook don't you Ryu?" Brock smiled back.

"Yeah! It relaxes me and if I didn't know about pokemon I would want to be a chef instead of a pokemon master," Ryu nodded to his friend.

"Pika Pikachu!" The little electric type squealed. He clearly loved Ryu's cooking. The ten year old might not be as great as Brock yet but he was getting there, especially with Brock helping him. He had been taught by his mom before that and as such that helped with Brock teaching him.

"I think Pikachu is looking forward to your cooking," Brock laughed lightly.

In another world…

A redhead teen hacked and coughed as twenty-eight year old redhead male had pulled him up from the water he had fallen into. "There, there Ryu, it's okay, I got you," the older redhead stated the teen, gently rubbing his back. Relief was written all over his features.

"Ryu? My name isn't Ryu," The teen said as he finally got his breath back.

"It didn't look like you had hit your head," the older redhead stated as he looked for a cut along his little brother's head.

"I didn't! My name is Ash Ketchum!" the teen argued.

"You were watching way too much pokemon yesterday," the older redhead sighed. "This might have happened due to trauma rather than you actually hitting your head. You almost died after all and before you passed out you could've been thinking of pokemon. It might have inadvertently made you think you were Ash rather than who you actually are. Your name is Ryuta James Ushima, you are fifteen years old and prefer to go by Ryu. I'm your older brother Trace Ushima."

"But I'm not!" the teen argued again.

"You don't look like Ash, Ryu how else would you explain that," Trace argued.

"I… I don't?" Ash, as he figured he was, stated, conflicted.

"Yeah, come on back to the house I'll show you," Trace said as he helped Ash up and lead him back to the house, showing himself in the mirror in the bathroom.

"I… So the things I 'remember' were from a tv show? They didn't actually happen?" Ash asked, looking downtrodden.

"Yes, pokemon don't exist here, there are animals like cats and dogs though. You named your little dalmation puppy Pikachu though," Trace smiled at that.

"Really?" Ash looked surprised. "But what is a dalmation?" There was a bark behind him and he saw a little white puppy with black spots.

"That's Pikachu, your dalmation puppy," Trace stated.

"So the Pikachu that I remember, the one that seemed so real could be my little puppy?" Ash asked.

"Yes, but Ash also had a starter as a Pikachu but you had always loved pikachu so you named your puppy after the pokemon, you already had a german shepard named Riolu. Riolu is your favorite pokemon," Trace stated.

"Riolu? What's a riolu?" Ash asked in confusion.

"I see, so the 'memories' you can 'remember' of Ash stop up to a certain point. It's okay Ryu, I'll be sure to help you remember. I just need to explain this to okasan and otosan," Trace sighed.

"Okasan? Otosan?" Ash asked, in even more confusion.

"Mom and dad in japanese," Trace explained. "Man this is even worse than I thought. Japanese was your native language as it was the first one okasan and otosan taught you. I guess you'll have to relearn it."

"This is going to be hard," Ash agreed. "But I won't give up! I'll keep trying until I get it!"

"I'm glad you see it that way Ryu," Trace smiled lightly. "First sleep and get on dry clothes, alright?"

"Alright," Ash nodded. "Night Trace."

"Trace-nii," Trace gently corrected. "You usually called me Trace-nii."

"Oh, okay. Night Trace-nii," Ash smiled.

"First change into you PJs," Trace said with a slight shake of his head.

"Right," Ash looked sheepish. "Thanks Trace-nii." He really couldn't believe that he lost his memories like that but he guessed it was possible if he almost died. His brother wouldn't lie to him after all! He'll get it eventually! The redhead pulled on his pjs and climbed into bed as he started to fall asleep.

In the pokemon world

"Whats the crowd for?" Ryu asked in wonder as he saw the people gathered there.

"I don't know. We can probably ask though," Brock responded. Just as they were about to do that the crowd started cheering about something clearly behind them. The three trainers turned around and saw a torch bearer. "I had forgotten about the torch bearer. They carry the flame of moltres all the way to the league to use it to light the flame to start the tournament."

The black haired ten year old walked over to the torch barer after hearing that. "Excuse me? Can I carry the torch now?"

"You have to be approved by a league administer to be able to do that," An officer Jenny stated.

"But…" The black haired kid looked downtrodden.

"Let him carry it," An old man stated to the officer.

"But President Goodshow-" Officer Jenny started.

"No buts, he clearly shows the spirit of the pokemon league. And that's what the torch bearer needs," The man stated.

"Thank you," Ryu smiled brightly.

"Now what's your name young man?" Mr. Goodshow asked.

"I'm Ryu and these are my partners Togepi and Pikachu," the black haired male stated.

"I'm Brock," The teen stated.

"And I'm Misty," the water type trainer said.

"Nice to meet you all," The old man smiled as he took the flame and handed it to Ryu after he had taken off his jacket.

"Thank you. I'll take good care of it," Ryu said as he started to run with it with pikachu running beside him and Togepi on Pikachu. Sometimes Togepi liked to run around on the ground with Pikachu. She liked to run! She even imagined flying one day like her big brother Butterfree and big sister Sakura! It would be so great! Or maybe one day she would be as fast as big brother Pikachu! That would be even more awesome. So until that day she would keep running as fast as her little legs would carry her. That's when the ground started to shake and the van that was traveling behind him fell into a pit along with the motor cycle officer Jenny was riding on. The black haired ten year old groaned this could only mean one thing. "Not again."

"Prepare for trouble," Jessie said.

"Make it double," James said.

"To protect the world from devastation," The pink haired woman smirked.

"To unit all the people within our nation," the blue haired man added.

"To denouce the evils of truth and love," Jessie said.

"To extend our reach to the stars above," James said.

"Jessie."

"James."

"Team rocket blasts off at the speed of light," Jessie said.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight," Jame added in.

"Meowth that's right," The talking meowth finished.

"Use flamethrower vulpix," Ryu told his shiny vulpix.

"Ah!" Meowth screamed as he started to run around on fire. Victreebel tried to put the poor pokemon out as James released him. Ryu sweat dropped at that. Didn't that idiot know that victreebel was just going to catch on fire too?

As if on cue with his thoughts victreebel caught on fire as well and soon enough it lead to the rest of them getting caught on fire as well.

"Ryu put them out!" Misty shouted.

"They can suffer, besides it's not like it's going to kill them. Pokemon fire is special in it doesn't kill people," Ryu pointed out. Unless it was a legendary but that was different. It may burn their hair off though. Or cover them in ash. But that was about it for regular pokemon.

"Ryu!" Misty shouted. Ryu could practically hear her glare as the black haired male sighed.

"Don't say I didn't warn you Misty. If they take the flame it's your fault," Ryu told her. "Togipie use water pulse." the egg pokemon obliged and put the four of them out with the big ball of water that hit the four and popped, soaking them.

"You may have saved my precious hair but that doesn't mean you're going to get off so easily!" Jessie said. "We're still going to get that torch!"

Ryu sighed at this. "Pikachu use thunderbolt," The redhead ordered as the yellow lighting coming from his pikachu hit the team rocket members and sent them flying.

"Team Rocket's blasting off again!" They scream.

"See nothing happened to the torch," Misty said as they managed to get out of the pit, finally. But it seemed that Misty jinxed them as just as she said that the torch went out.

"You jinxed us Misty!" Ryu cried.

"Well how was I supposed to know it would do that?!" Misty shouted, in shock.

"What are we going to do now?! The pokemon league can't go on without the flames!" Ryu shouted right back.

"It's alright, let me see it," President Goodshow said and Ryu handed it to him. "It's fine, you just accidentally turned it off. See?" the man pointed to the switch on the bottom. The man then took a lamp out of his jacket. "I always keep extra just in case." As he said that he lit the flame again and turned the switch on.

"That's good," Ryu said in relief. "Let's keep going then." With that Ryu returned Vulpix and then they started up again.

Much later that night

"I can't wait," The redhead said as he looked at the stadium. He would win. He had to. He had been training hard for this moment.


End file.
